


Take Two

by listenforthelove



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 19:12:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3499733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listenforthelove/pseuds/listenforthelove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, back in 2010 (while the show was nearing its end), I participated in a Schmoop Bingo on LiveJournal and wrote Luke/Noah ficlets for many of the prompts I filled. I collected them all below, plus a bonus from 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Feeding

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a native English speaker and these fics are old, so my sincere apologies for any mistakes. I also couldn't get myself to watch the majority of the last story line, so if I'm a little off here and there, that might be why...  
> Dripping with silly references to the show because why not.
> 
> The title of every chapter is the prompt name, because I am historically terrible at coming up with titles.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noah wakes up Sunday morning before Luke and makes some sandwiches for breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Okay originally the prompt was 'Feeding - erotic'. I wasn't quite able to do that, so I cheated. Ssh.

It was probably late in the morning by the time Noah opened his eyes. He was actually pretty sure of that, as he saw the sunlight shining through the drapes quite brightly. And his stomach confirmed it had been a while since the last meal.

A quick glance at the clock told him it was past ten in the morning. Oops. Thank god for Sunday mornings, in that case. It was Sunday, right? Had to be. Last night had been Saturday night, after all.

He smirked as he turned slightly, just enough to see Luke was still sound asleep. But as much as he’d loved to stay just like this for a while longer, his stomach forced him to get up and make some breakfast already. Decent breakfast – it wouldn’t be satisfied with a bowl of cereals.

And so, he made some sandwiches. A little more than he could probably eat, just in case.

His hunch was right – Luke was just waking up as he returned from the kitchen. “Good morning,” he greeted him with a smile, taking place on his side of the bed. He placed his tray next to him, careful not to spill.

“Morning,” was the muttered response. Luke had gotten up a bit now, leaning back into his pillow, not quite awake yet. He just stared at Noah, who was picking up one of the sandwiches now. “You’ve got food.”

“Yeah. I was hungry.”

“So you made sandwiches.” He got up for real now, supporting his own weight. “Got any with meat on them?”

He grinned as he caught up with him there. “Oh, you’re the worst.”

“What? I’m only hungry, just like you,” Luke mischievously smiled back at him. He quickly checked out the sandwiches, but found none with meat, as Noah could have told him beforehand. The smile was still on his face as he looked up at him. “Remember the last conversation we had over sandwiches with meat?”

That was enough for the Sunday morning. Abruptly, mainly to just shut him up, Noah tore off a piece of the first sandwich he’d taken up and stuffed it into Luke’s mouth.

He really was hungry, as he chewed the piece away and swallowed before he spoke again. “Well, that’s not nice,” was his conclusion.

“I’m feeding you, that’s nice,” Noah simply stated.

“Don’t think so. Here, this is how it’s done. _Nicely._ ” Luke picked up what was left of the sandwich, tore off a small piece and brought it to Noah’s mouth. “Open up.”

Oh, for the love of everything. But he was actually really hungry, hadn’t made those sandwiches for nothing. And so, he obeyed.

Luke fed him the piece calmly, smiled. “See? _Nice._ ” He waited for Noah to finish, then held the tray to him. “Now you.”

He couldn’t believe this was happening, but what the hell. He tore off a small a piece as possible from what was left of the sandwich, trying not the spill the sauce this time – he still had to find a way to tell Luke his face was smudged with it by Noah’s initial action.

Luke was already anticipating his next move, and he fed him with no trouble. “See, you can be nice,” he said, giving him _that_ smile as a reward.

“Being nice anyway, I should probably tell you there’s sauce all over your mouth,” Noah now said out of the blue,now he had the chance.

“Really? Well, you made the mess, you clean it up.”

He was so obvious sometimes. Noah pushed him backwards, Luke’s back against the pillows, and kissed the sauce’s residue away for him. “Nice enough?”

“Hm-m.” Luke had his eyes closed, but opened one now to look at him. “Still hungry,” he now complained. “It really is too bad you didn’t make any with meat.” He pulled him in, kissed him on the lips. “You should make up for that too.”

Noah was pretty sure it was going to be Sunday _afternoon_ that day before they got up for real.

 

 


	2. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke is nervous for what is maybe or maybe not a first date with Noah.

He was nervous. He was dead on nervous for what was to come, their first date after, well, _everything_. After the blindness, after their time apart, after... He ignored the rest of his thoughts. After, he repeated that one word in his mind. It was all in the past. It was now about the present. And perhaps even about the future.

Now that he gave it yet another thought, he realized this was their first _first_ date overall. Unless you counted that fishing trip – which he didn’t – as their first date. With the disastrous way that ended, however...

As if he needed any more reasons to be nervous. Great, just great.

 

Mere minutes later, and he’d had it. He didn’t even bother to watch the clock anymore, as time was moving backwards anyway .

He smacked the door open forcefully, ready to stomp out, cool down a bit. Instead, he almost bumped into someone as he tried to get out.

“You heard me?”

He didn’t need to look up to recognize the voice. The nervous smile that had been lingering on his lips, had it not been for his frustration of waiting, now slipped out. “Ah, no,” he replied, as soon as he’d found the words. “I was... impatient.” Hesitantly, he looked up now. God.

Noah’s eyes were even more intensely blue than he remembered, and staring at him in a way he’d painfully missed.

“Well, I _am_ a bit late,” Noah confessed, and Luke now noticed how he was fidgeting himself, too. With his tie, more specifically. A tie he recognized, scandalously late actually, distracted as he had been by his own anxiety. He still smirked at the sight. This time, it was properly fixed.

“Seems like you don’t need any help this time,” he gestured, as he felt he had to say something to relieve the awkwardness he suddenly felt surrounding them.

 He felt a couple of years back in time again, a real teenager, nervous and anxious and simply in love. That time during which the most complicated thing was the constant wonder if the other liked you back, and if they did, as much as you liked _them_.

Yes, this really felt like a very first date to Luke, even though it was anything _but_ the first between the two of them. They knew each other already, he would love to say ‘through and through’; they knew what it was to be together, share a life. Going on a date together now seemed superfluous at best. And yet, he felt this was necessary. Necessary to make the past into the past for real, start over again.

Perhaps it was appropriate as a first date after all – the first date of their new life. Life, which was his hope. A life they would come to share again, two lives coming together. He wanted to believe that. The chance was there, after all.

He almost wondered if Noah had somehow followed his train of thoughts, as he somewhat mysteriously smiled and had been silent all along. Now that Luke’s mind was back to the present, Noah finally replied to his initial remark. “Someone showed me how it was done.”

“Oh.” He probably grinned sheepishly. “Someone special?”

“Someone _very_ special.”

And then Noah took his hand.

 

It really was as awkward as a genuine first date. So perhaps it counted. And perhaps this really was the new, fresh start he had been hoping for. As long as they were on the same page, now blank, but soon to be filled with their story.

A story that should end with ‘happily ever after’ just for once.


	3. Coffee Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke keeps coming back to Java despite him and Noah not being together anymore.

Java just wasn’t the same without Noah. But that didn’t stop him from going there anyway, somehow hoping. It was ridiculous and in vain on top of that, but he still did.

It had been months. It felt like years, a lifetime, or even multiple lifetimes. And yet all the memories were still crystal clear. Everything from the very start, from the very moment Noah came walking through that door back at WOAK. Especially during that time, falling for him. It should have been too long ago to be remembered so clearly, he was convinced of that. But his brain didn’t agree.

And then all the times he’d come to Java, kept Noah from his work, even though he never seemed to mind it. The opposite. And the pure joyous feeling that came from just knowing that, knowing Noah put everything else aside for _him_. He should have known it couldn’t go on forever, that he couldn’t be so selfish as to expect that. But still. He hadn’t gotten used to the current situation, and now that Noah was moving away...

His thoughts stopped right there, abruptly, caused by an external factor. _Noah_ had just walked through the door. Noah, who was supposed to be moving right now. Noah, who didn’t seem in any hurry that mostly came with the final days before the big move. And it was a big move to him, Luke knew that much.

And yet here he was, back at Java. It was disorienting to see him around here without the Java shirt, actually. He was half expecting to see the familiar green colour when Noah took off his jacket, but he wore navy blue today. Not that it mattered. Not that he didn’t make _any_ colour look ridiculously good.

Noah hadn’t seen him yet, or perhaps he pretended he didn’t. Either way, he took place several tables away from him, fidgeting, clearly not entirely at comfort. Luke couldn’t help wondering why – the awkwardness of being a customer at your former working place, maybe? Or something else? Perhaps he was meeting someone here.

Just that little passing thought stung. But he had no right to be jealous, now had he? Not anymore.

That didn’t stop the feeling. He took great effort in keeping his feet in place, making sure they wouldn’t walk their way over to Noah’s table on their own, if only by a natural response to his presence. It was honestly all kinds of ridiculous. He was already cursing ever coming here in the first place. To _keep_ coming here, he corrected himself mentally. Everything, the whole place was just a reminder. This was just a way to torture himself.

And now, he couldn’t keep his eyes off him. He knew it was going to be obvious in minutes, that his look was too penetrating to ignore for anyone. If Noah didn’t notice, surely someone else would.

But all that stopped to matter, or perhaps never really mattered, when Noah’s eyes caught his.

It pained to see the look in his eyes, that seemed to tell him it was over maybe, or ‘do not come near’, or anything else he really, really didn’t want them to tell him. But it would have been more painful to never see those eyes again, no matter what they silently spoke.

 

Neither Luke nor Noah looked away again after their eyes intertwined. They were just in a coffee shop, not even at the same table, and yet, this felt more private than anything.

It was that feeling that snapped his self-control he’d been using to keep himself in place. It wasn’t working anymore now. He didn’t  – couldn’t – think about it when his legs moved on their own as expected, drawn to the person he’d been drawn to for so long.

“Hi.” He should be self-conscious, wary at the least. But he felt nothing. Nothing but that tugging feeling.

“Hi,” Noah softly answered. He said nothing more. Perhaps that was for the better, as his words may not have been kind. But he didn’t deny him. He kept staring at the chair in front of him until Luke simply took it and shove it away from the table.

He didn’t say anything either, but they both silently agreed he could take it.

 

It was a start. A silent start in the middle of the noisy coffee shop. 


	4. Cuddling in public

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noah considers feelings unspoken that he wants to show.

They were free in many ways now Luke had regained his ability to walk. Now that his whole family had learned he had, actually. Some Christmas present that had been. Some pride that had sparked on all sides.

Luke was free now. Noah was free too, in a way,  no longer fearing his father might walk in. A son shouldn’t have to wish for his father to be in jail, but it really was for the better after all that had happened. Noah could be himself, be with the people he wanted to be with, and have no worries over what his father might think for the first time in his life. It was liberating. On a more selfish note, it was also a relief to no longer be reminded of that day Luke had gotten paralyzed. As long as he didn’t see his father, he wouldn’t remember quite so much how it was his presence that had caused it. He was free from that now, as much as possible anyway.

They were even free in the way they felt, which had seemed the next major obstacle. Even though he’d only written it down in his card, he _had_ told Luke that he loved him. And Luke had told him back more than once by now.

Then why was it that he still couldn’t feel entirely free? Why couldn’t he say the words out loud, if his feelings were true enough? He knew they were, he knew that now. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that somehow, he couldn’t express them. Not really when they were together, and definitely not in public. And he wondered how long that could keep up without mutual annoyance. Luke wasn’t amused at how tense he’d get when people asked if they were together. The answer was a simple ‘yes’,  but somehow, it was a very hard word at those times.

 

But then again, perhaps words weren’t the only thing that counted. Sure, they were important, especially to Luke. He was a writer at heart, after all. But they weren’t everything.

And so, when they went out for coffee that afternoon – something so simple, but yet special because they got to share something that ordinary – he took his hand, silently, a bit awkwardly and under the table. Still hidden. But the contact was there, and Luke gave him an ever so slight smile.

He loved him. And he wanted to be closer.

So, after they had their coffee, he shifted a little more to his side. Just a little bit, every other minute or so. Until they had both finished their coffee and were practically sitting next to each other now. It really was true:  it was better move very slowly during a longer period of time than make one big, quick move if you wanted to go by unnoticed. It was therefore Luke looked up in surprise, to discover Noah so closely besides him all of a sudden.

More minutes passed, in silence now. They should either get going or order something else, as the place was getting pretty crowded. Four o’clock was coffee rush hour, apparently.

But Noah didn’t feel like going just yet.

He softly squeezed his hand, which he was still holding. Their shoulders now touched, and there was such warmth between them that he was almost surprised there was no fire. It was a good warmth, anyway. The warmth of being next to the person you loved, the warmth of care and being cared for. A soothing warmth, that softly burnt away all his worries.

He knew people had to be watching now, as he leaned in, ever so gently brushed his lips against the temple of Luke’s head. Somewhere deep inside, there was still anxiety, but it was chased away by the warmth. 

Luke responded to it too. He turned entirely to him now, eyes only looking at Noah’s and nothing else, in that way he could finally allow himself to get used to. Their faces were close, hands still touching, Noah’s other arm lingering towards Luke’s waist, Luke’s free hand half raised now. It was as close to an embrace they could come, sitting on two different chairs.

The warmth Noah had felt, was now in Luke’s eyes. And then, suddenly after all, they stood up as if they’d agreed on that. Luke squeezed his hand not quite as gently as Noah had done before. “Let’s go.”

Not for the public. But that was okay, better than okay, as long as they were together.


	5. Anniversary - miles apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Noah both remember a significant day and Luke makes a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final one and easily the longest. Post-canon.

Noah had given him time before.

He sighed as he looked at the watch again, turned it over, the inscription as clear as ever. Almost clearer than he could remember, as if to shout the words out loud. ‘Worth the wait’. So much had happened since then. So much between them, together; so much that had driven them apart, too. And they had needed time once again. That’s why he’d told Noah to go, live his dreams. He couldn’t do it to him to be around while he was grieving. It was unfair. Life was unfair.

But life was also short. Hadn’t he said that himself, to his grandmother back then? Not to waste time? Was that what he was doing now, wasting time, or was he using the amount he had to?

He thought he was trying, he really was. He’d even picked up writing again, mostly to vent his feelings. His very confused, muddled feelings. He wrote to no-one in particular, would probably never allow a living soul to read those written words. It was just – so much had happened. It would confuse anyone.

Life seemed reasonably calm now, though. He tried to carry on as usual, as much as possible, fairly succeeded too. After a while, of course. Some things weren’t easily forgotten. Some moments, small portions of time. Moments that changed lives forever, or even took them.

But grieving as he was, he couldn’t help wondering how Noah was doing. If he was living his long-time dream at last, and if he was happy. And sometimes, he wondered if he’d moved on, something that still stung to think about, no matter how unfair that, too, may be. Today was one of those times.

It was August seventeenth, and their first kiss had been exactly four years ago. With a light shock, he realized that also exactly marked eleven months since Noah’d left. It wasn’t like he’d never heard from him since, but that time had passed that quickly took him by surprise. Even more than it surprised him he still remembered the dates so exactly, to be honest.

Unsure of what to do, he opened his nearest notebook, leaved through it without really reading the words. Until he noticed that Noah’s name kept popping up, more frequently as the dates approached today. One would expect otherwise after a long separation.

And suddenly, he couldn’t do it anymore. Perhaps the time wasn’t right yet, perhaps it was. He had no idea to be sure. There was no watch for that, except perhaps for a metaphorically, inner one, and he wasn’t sure that his was working correctly. All he knew was that at that moment, he remembered Noah’s words as clear as the inscription on the watch. ‘Do what you need to do. Grieve and heal. And maybe, one day soon, when and if you’re ready, you… get on a plane, and… I’ll be waiting.’

The question just was if he was ever ready.

So, was he now?

\---

Noah couldn’t help wondering if he was the only one who knew what day it was today. Probably. It had been so long since they’d seen each other in real life, and that hadn’t exactly been a moment for reminiscence. He still heard of him, but they somehow never really discussed things. It was mostly left at ‘how are you doing’, and the mutual, casual answers to that question.

He had never dared to repeat those words again, at least not by mail or telephone. He really wondered if he’d dare to do so face to face. Even as a story teller, now that he was actually making movies and telling their tales, he wondered if he’d ever find an eloquent way with words.

Be that as it may, he was still glad he’d gotten it off his chest back then, so many months ago already. Eleven, exactly – a double anniversary, with double feelings. Such timing they had, he couldn’t help thinking with a slight smirk. It disappeared just as quickly.

He wondered if he had the right to keep hoping.  He had told him he would, that much was true.  He’d told Luke he’d be waiting, and he still was. But he hadn’t given any signs he was planning on dropping by any time soon. Shouldn’t he just give up?

He knew already he couldn’t, and he wondered if he ever could.

Trying not to choke on self-pity, he now went and tried to keep himself busy. First something to drink, sit down for a while to calm down, perhaps have a brain storming session on his movie.

He very nearly spilled the just boiled water over his arms when his cell phone rang, distracted as he was by his own thoughts. Narrowly escaping any more burn marks, since he’d had quite enough of that for a long time to come, he put down the water carefully and took his cell phone from his pocket. The name surprised him.

Of course, Luke called him from time to time, but mostly in the evenings or weekends. Perhaps it simply was  the coincidence that he’d been thinking about him just seconds ago that had startled him. Just in time, he remembered that picking up might be a sensible thing to do.

“Hello?” He was a bit nervous – he hoped nothing was wrong, with any of the Snyders, or…

“Hi,” Luke’s voice now replied. He didn’t sound like he had bad news, although he did hesitate for a while. Then, finally: “Eh, happy anniversary…” There was a sound like he meant to say more, but he didn’t.

Noah’d expected anything, but not this. Had he actually remembered? If not, he himself had forgotten some other anniversary. He somehow doubted that even more. “Yeah, you too,” he finally replied. If that was the wrong reply, he’d know soon enough.

It wasn’t. Luke took a while to respond once more, totally unlike his usual self. “Oh. You remembered.”

“I’m more surprised that _you_ do, actually,” he now said, a bit more bitter than he’d intended to. As if he had the monopoly on remembering.

“Obviously.” A soft sound, indicating Luke was smiling, nervously. Why did he still know him so well? “I’m sorry, I know this is a bit out of the blue, since we haven’t talked about this ever since, well, you know.”

Wait, what was he saying now? “Luke, listen, if there’s something…”

“Do you know a place where I can stay?” The words came so sudden that Noah couldn’t make sense of it at first.

“What? Where?”

“There. In L.A.” Luke took a deep breath before he continued, and sounded a whole less certain as he continued. “If – if the offer still stands. Sorry, I shouldn’t have, I know, it’s… It’s just… Sorry. Sorry, I…”

“When?” He now interrupted him, if only to stop his stammering. You never knew what came next then, with Luke Snyder.

Even more uncharacteristically, he now fell silent completely. Recovering, apparently. The next words he spoke were a lot more stable. “Tomorrow, if possible. I won’t make it anymore before today is over.”

“Wow. Eh, okay.” Noah was the one to take a breath now. “What – what made you…”

“You gave me the best gift possible, Noah. You gave me time.” He could hear him smile again, genuinely this time. “Okay, I was a bit pushy about it…”

“A bit?” But he could grin about it.

“Okay, I pretty much told you to go,” Luke admitted. “But you accepted that, didn’t you? And you gave me what I needed. But I don’t think that’s what I need now. Not anymore. Look, I know you’re living your dream right now, and I don’t want to barge in on that. I admire that, admire _you_. So if you don’t want me to come, by all means…”

“I’d have interrupted you before you started rambling,” Noah smiled. Suddenly, those months apart mattered a whole lot less. He took a swift decision. “I’m not sure about hotels around here, but you could stay at my place. If that’s okay.”

“Yes – yes,” was Luke’s almost immediate reply. “And don’t forget to show me around on the set. And the hot dogs. Especially don’t forget those.”

He had remembered more than he’d thought. “Of course.”

“Deal,” Luke smiled. “The only thing I wonder about now is why I consider today an anniversary to begin with. Together with you, apparently.”

“Yeah, we weren’t exactly together back then,” Noah had to admit, although he still got a little red when he remembered himself from those days. “Just like now.” He let that sink in.  

“Yeah. Look, I’m not going to make promises, we’ll see where it goes from here,” Luke now sighed. “I do want to see you again. So very much. I’m not entirely sure I’m ready for anything, just that I’m ready to see you and talk to you face to face.”

He couldn’t have dared to expect more. It was already a lot that Luke was the one to take the initiative, needed no reminders. He tried to hide his sigh. “Okay, sure.”

“Hey, Noah.” That reassuring tone of voice – Luke knew him well, too.  “It’s not over. I don’t think it ever was, not really. So, can you pick me up at the airport, then? If that’s not too much trouble?”

“Sure, as long as you give me a call in advance.” Luke had accomplished his goal for now and toned down his worries, at least temporarily. It didn’t matter for now, anyway – they’d just have to see. “So. Tomorrow.”

“Yes. Tomorrow.”

This day was ending completely different from his expectations, that was for sure. He barely dared to hang up, afraid as he was to come to his senses and realize he’d imagined this conversation.

“Anniversary apart, for now,” Luke grinned. “Well, it was a bit silly anyway. But I’m glad I called.”

“Yeah, me too.” ‘Glad’ was an understatement, but he didn’t want to sound too eager.

Eventually, they ‘d hung up, although Noah spent some time looking at the screen that projected the time of the conversation, just to convince himself it had been real.

 Then he realized he’d boiled water before his phone had rang, water that had cooled down completely now. But he’d never minded repeating a task as little as today.

 

* * *

 

Luke stared at his cell phone, at the numbers that indicated the length of the conversation. He’d finally done it. He’d finally called Noah and asked beyond his daily business, his shameless fishing to see if he’d found someone else now. He hadn’t dared to acknowledge that, but it was the truth, and he knew it would have hurt if Noah would have told him it was too late. Very unfair of him, obviously, but that was how he felt.

But no, Noah seemed actually happy to see him again. He’d remembered too, even.

He sank into the couch, staring into space. Tomorrow, he’d be in a plane to Noah. And all he could wonder about now was why it had taken him this long in the first place.

They’d have to see where it went from here, but he had confidence.

And with that thought, he also had the confidence to put back his cell phone, convinced that the conversation had been real and that Noah would be, indeed, waiting for him at the airport the next day.

 

And so he was.


	6. Reward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Anastasia!Nuke: Noah is an orphan who is spotted by Luke (and maybe Casey? Or Damian?), a scam artist who trains Noah in order to pass him off as the queen's long-lost grandson and collect the reward money. Romantic complication ensues. Bonus points if you include Lucinda somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally written for the Anon Prompt 2011 meme for the Luke/Noah Fan Community on LiveJournal: http://luke-noah.livejournal.com/1769809.html  
> I'm fairly sure that with this, I have collected all my Luke/Noah ficlets.

Luke Grimaldi sank back deeply into his seat, tired of the day. Another day gone by, another day without a suitable target. Not that he was really trying all that hard, if he was perfectly honest, but still. He’d rather not go along in this at all, but it was pretty hard saying no to his uncle Damian, and they could really use the money. They weren’t exactly poor, but all the money went to the house and basic needs as food and clothes. Money to study, to learn, simply wasn’t available and wasn’t in the foreseeable future, either.   
  
Luke really wanted to study. To be more precise, he wanted to write, and he wanted to learn about the words others had written before him, what they had meant for the people reading them and what they meant now. He wanted to learn how to write his own stories as spellbinding as the stories he grew up with, the tales he read in his childhood and the books he was reading now, with fully grown characters in their own rights. That was all, but he couldn’t live off air if he were to pursue it all.  
  
And thus, Damian had come up with this plan, no doubt to earn some money in the process for himself. Luke knew him longer than today, and he knew Damian rarely if ever did anything that didn’t benefit himself in some way. He also knew Damian still cared for Luke’s well-being, and he had no reason to doubt that he’d actually use at least part of the money to pay for his tuition.   
  
Luke’s main problem with the plan was the fact it was a set up.   
  
It wasn’t a secret that the country’s young prince had disappeared years ago. Still a toddler, the son of the crown princess and her husband had been taken in the night, not a trace of him left behind. The whole country had been looking for him, without success. The prince was now nearing his eighteenth birthday (if he was even alive at all), and his parents had been in an accident the year before. They were still recovering in a foreign hospital, and it was unclear whether they’d recover completely.  
The queen, the prince’s grandmother, had promised a huge reward for the person who could bring her grandson home, if only to have someone of her family close by, not to mention a possible heir to the throne.   
  
That reward was what Damian was after, and the reason he’d come up with his plan.  
  
They would find someone, nearly eighteen, who looked like he could be the prince. They would tell him all he should know if he wanted to be convincing as the prince, to trick the royal family long enough for Damian and Luke to flee from the country with the money.   
  
Luke had been against the idea from the beginning, mostly against bringing someone else into this. He had even suggested to pose as the prince himself, but Damian had gotten so angry that that he hadn’t dared to question it again.   
  
Damian had insisted Luke would be the one to bring someone in; it was much more likely he’d succeed in finding someone his own age and convince him to come home than it would be for Damian to find a younger man. There was that, and there was the hardly mentioned but equally important charm Luke Grimaldi possessed whenever he wanted to convince someone, especially another guy.   
  
He hadn’t succeeded today, though.  
  


* * *

  
Noah Mayer had been reasonably comfortable living on his own for quite a while now. He hadn’t really known his mother, and his father had raised him with a firm hand. If he hadn’t become sick in the last years, he would have forced Noah to join the army. As it were, Noah stayed at home to take care of him until his last days. His father hadn’t shown gratefulness until his very last day, and even then with reserves.   
  
Now, Noah was truly by himself. He’d had some schooling, but going to an actual school was out of the question with the small funds he had. Instead, he moved around, mostly spent the nights on the streets. He tried not to spend the little money he had while he was still unemployed. Finding a job wasn’t easy; he may have to join the army as yet.  
  
He’d barely come to that conclusion when he heard a kind ‘hi there’. He looked up, and all his thoughts stopped at that point. 

There was a boy in front of him, around his own age, his hand stretched out to Noah as if to introduce himself. Noah kind of missed that though, distracted as he was by his face, his smile. His smile and his eyes really, brown, deep eyes that were smiling along.  
  
It took inappropriately long for Noah to find his voice. “Eh, oh, hi,” he said, shaking his hand while still staring at his face. “Ehm.”  
  
“Luke,” the boy said, still smiling. “Sorry, I just saw you sitting on that bench alone, I thought it would be rude to sit down next to you without as much as an introduction.”  
  
“Oh, I see.” The handshake had gotten to the point of being awkward, so he let go. “Ehm, Noah. Feel eh, free to sit down.”  
  
Luke did, maybe a little closer next to him than appropriate for a total stranger. And maybe that was why Noah felt more nervous than he should be. He was half expecting or maybe hoping Luke would take out a book and start reading, but instead, he started talking.  
  
“So, Noah. You busy?”  
  
“Not really,” he answered, still a bit hesitant. “Why?”  
  
“Oh, no reason. Sometimes I just like to talk to people, but if you’re busy…”  
  
“No, not busy.” Noah managed a smile. “What do you usually talk about with total strangers?”  
  
“I know your name, you know mine – we’re not total strangers,” Luke said, smiling back with ease. “It depends, really. In your case, I’m actually kind of curious to you.” He backed away slightly now, as if his own words surprised him.  
  
Noah secretly liked not being the only one who was nervous, though he was surprised as well by Luke’s words. “Really? Why?”   
  
“Oh. Well.” Luke looked up again now, a bit embarrassed, but not enough to keep quiet. “You know. You’re my age, and you seem so calmly sitting on this bench, I was just wondering if you didn’t have anywhere to go – you know, friends, family, school, work maybe.”  
  
“None of all that.” Maybe this was getting a bit personal, but what the hell. It wasn’t like he was confessing to some horrible crime or anything; someone might as well know. What were the odds they’d meet again after this, after all? “I’m an orphan, so no family, and no money for school either.”  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He seemed like he meant it, though there was something in Luke’s eyes that betrayed there was more to it. “If you don’t mind me asking – since when?”  
  
“My father passed away last year. I can’t really remember my mother.”  
  
Luke silently accepted that information as he seemed to ponder something. “Have you been on your own since then?”  
  
“Since my father died, yes.”  
  
“Wow.” He softly whistled, impressed. “Okay. Ehm. This is going to sound pretty weird since we’re total strangers, as you just helpfully pointed out, but…” He shuffled his feet nervously. “Look, I live in a pretty big house with my uncle, family estate and all. There are quite some rooms empty at the moment and we’ve been thinking about getting lodgers before.”  
  
“I…” Shit. “I can’t afford that,” he had to confess.   
  
“Is that all?” Luke asked. “I mean, you’re not majorly creeped out or anything? It’s just the money?”  
  
“Eh, yes. I mean, I don’t exactly have a good place to stay now, mostly because of the lack of money. So.” Noah stopped himself short there. This was getting personal again and he didn’t particularly mind, but he didn’t feel like getting into details about him basically living on the streets.  
  
“What if I say we can work something out?” Luke suggested. “I mean, we could find you something to do to pay for your stay, so money wouldn’t be the issue.”  
  
“Really? You’d do that?” He tried not to sound too desperate. He didn’t know Luke or this uncle of his, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be too suspicious about Luke’s motives. He seemed nice enough, someone his own age – surely there couldn’t be too many dark motives behind this? Not to mention Noah wouldn’t complain about seeing his face around more often.   
  
“I just suggested it, didn’t I?” Luke smiled again, this time pretty taken with himself.

* * *

  
Well, this wasn’t according to plan.  
  
He wasn’t going to lie: Luke had felt like he’d hit the jackpot when he saw Noah. He was the right age, had dark hair like the prince should most likely have considering his dark-haired parents, and not in the last place, he was pretty damn hot. Noah was more than happy to move in with them, which made the training much easier.   
  
And he was nice. So nice, in fact, Luke started to feel guilty almost immediately after welcoming Noah with his scarce belongings into the empty room downstairs. Noah was so grateful and happy, and Luke was essentially just using him to get money. He had to try his best not to get too attached to him to ease the guilt, he just had to.  
  
He just utterly failed.  
  
After their first meeting, Noah hadn’t been so open about himself anymore, as if he was afraid he’d said too much already. Instead, he asked Luke about his life, his interests. When writing came into the picture and more specifically story-telling, Noah suddenly opened up. He spoke of his fascination for the moving pictures, stories told by actors, words spoken out loud instead of written down on paper. They had the same interests, but on a different level.  
  
To make up for his deceive, Luke made sure Noah had to do as little as possible around the house. Damian had told him he’d easily earn back the little money Noah cost them now as soon as they could cash in the reward, but he knew Noah would be suspicious if he didn’t have to do a thing.  
  
He was actually insulted. Noah felt he had to earn his living, and that if he couldn’t, he shouldn’t be intruding. Luke had told him he just liked having him around, someone to talk to. That part wasn’t a lie. One way or another, Noah insisted to do some work, which ended up to consist of mostly cleaning jobs.   
  
In their free time, they would talk. To ease his guilt, Luke tried to be subtle about the training he was supposed to give Noah. He brought along books he was reading and snuck in a copy or two about the royal family. He’d throw in a ‘did you know that the royal family…’ as often as he could. Noah probably thought he had some unhealthy obsession with royalty by now, but that hardly mattered.   
  
Luke carefully tested him in between, and Noah would remember everything he’d told him. At first, they were little things: names of the family members, for example. Next were the prince’s birth date, the age of his disappearance, everything that was known about his life within the castle walls. Noah absorbed it all, even though he wasn’t particularly interested in royalty and never started talking about the subject himself.  
  
E very day, after every conversation, Luke felt himself drawn to Noah more and more. He liked him, really liked him – he liked talking to him, looking at him, just having him around. He liked laughing together, he liked looking into Noah’s wonderful blue eyes whenever he had the chance, to watch him from above as he passed the stairs. He didn’t want Noah to leave. He most certainly didn’t want to set him up by having him pose as the fake prince.  
  
This wasn’t according to plan at all.   
  
  
He sought out Damian that night, at a time Noah should be in his lodgings. “I can’t do this,” he told him. “I can’t. He’s a great guy, and I couldn’t live with myself if I had to go through with this.”  
  
“We’re running out of time,” Damian reminded him. “Unless you can find someone else and get them ready within a month, he’ll have to do. Do you want to study or not? You can’t start feeling sorry now, Luke. You took the stray home, now take care of him and make him do what you took him in for. Simple.”  
  
Studying suddenly didn’t seem all that important anymore. “Why can’t I do it?” he suggested out of the blue. “I know enough at this point, you told me and I told Noah, so I heard it all at least twice. I could pose as the prince and then, I dunno, rebel and run away or something, say I can’t get used to castle life.”  
  
“You are  _not_  claiming to be the prince!” Damian had lost all coolness about him now and was shouting at him. “You’ll let this Noah do it all, and that’s _it_!”

“ _Fine_!” Luke shouted in return, though he wasn’t fine with it at all.   
  
As he stomped away, he heard a door slam below him, followed by someone frantically throwing stuff around.  
  
Noah hadn’t been in his room all along, that was for sure.  
  


* * *

  
He didn’t even care he’d smacked the door behind him so rudely he may have broken something. To be quite honest, it had it coming, with all its screeching and jamming.  
  
How could he have been so stupid? He’d just trusted Luke, trusted him after knowing him for what, five minutes, enough to follow him home and to not ask any more questions. Was he so stupid that Luke’s puppy eyes had been all it took to convince him?   
  
Well, yes, if he had to be honest. That wasn’t important now anymore, though. Too bad if he’d had a nice time with Luke, too bad if he’d grown attached to him. Too bad if ‘attached’ might not even be the right word for what he felt.  
  
He couldn’t trust him. That part hurt maybe even more than the plan itself, which apparently consisted of having someone pose as the missing prince. And for what? Probably the money, though he hadn’t taken Luke as the greedy type. Well, Noah had been wrong about him before, hadn’t he.  
  
  
Early the next morning, Noah found himself back on the bench they’d first met at, months ago now. He wasn’t sure why he went here – maybe to have a sense of starting over again. If he came here now and there would be no Luke, he could pretend none of it had ever happened.  
  
Luke didn’t let him pretend.   
  
He was there, sitting on that very bench in a warm, heavy coat, eyes closed and quite possibly asleep. Noah tried to silently pass him, ignoring him as he went through, but without success. Either Luke was actually awake or he was a light sleeper, because he looked up and gave him the weakest of smiles.   
  
“I guess you weren’t expecting me here, huh.”  
  
Noah could have just walked past and pretended he hadn’t heard him. That would have been better, but instead, he stopped in his tracks and let out a sigh. “No, I wasn’t.” He still didn’t turn around. He had the vague suspicion it would be better if he couldn’t look into Luke’s eyes.  
  
“You’re not running away from me. That’s something, I suppose.” Luke sighed as well. “You heard everything?”  
  
“I heard enough.”  
  
“I ran away,” Luke suddenly announced. “Damian got pissed at me and I’d kind of had it with him.”  
  
“Right. Why are you telling me this?”  
  
“Because I kind of suck at running away. A lot, actually.” Luke gave him an embarrassed smile. “I think I fell asleep on this bench like two hours ago, I didn’t know where else to go.”  
  
“Are you asking for help?” Noah said, not all that willing to offer it. Put more accurately, he wanted to help him – he just knew he shouldn’t.   
  
“Not really.” Luke lowered his head in shame. “I don’t exactly deserve help, do I?” He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he directed himself at his own feet as he continued his speech. “It probably doesn’t help much, but it wasn’t really my idea. I didn’t like the whole plan, and even less so when Damian wanted me to act upon it. I thought I was saved when I saw you, as you fit the description, but then I talked to you.”   
  
Noah looked at him at last, just to see his expression. He didn’t catch it, though – Luke seemed to think his shoes were very interesting.  
  
“It wasn’t so much what you said, but… I just, I genuinely wanted to help you, Noah. I didn’t want you to look so alone anymore. I thought that, if I could give you a place to live in return, it wouldn’t feel so bad anymore to have you pose as someone you’re not, but it was even worse precisely because it was you. I couldn’t do that to you, but Damian wouldn’t hear of it.”  
  
“So you ran away,” Noah finished his sentence for him. They still didn’t make eye contact, but Noah felt they met in another way. Maybe, just maybe, Luke was as good a person as he’d thought he was at first. “Why, though?” he now asked. “Just for the money?”

“The house is family property,” Luke said, smiling a little to himself. He seemed to understand what Noah was getting at – the house didn’t exactly imply poverty. “I’m not sure what happened in the past, but Damian got cut off a long time ago. The money we do have goes into the house and things like food. I know it’s selfish, but I really just wanted to get out, to learn something new. Unfortunately, money is the only way to get out for me, us.”  
  
And unfortunately for Noah, he knew exactly what he meant. Hadn’t he been wishing for the same all that time? A way to get out, a way to get a home for his own? Money had always been in the way, or rather, the lack thereof. “And robbing the royal family of their money seemed like a good plan?”  
  
“They have plenty,” Luke said, though he did seem a bit ashamed. “Look, I know I should just get a job, but that won’t be enough, not for a long time anyway.” He shook his head as if he was disagreeing with himself. “And here I am, talking about how bad I have it, while I picked you up from the streets. If there’s a good person for that money to go to, he’s right here in front of me. I’m so sorry, Noah.”  
  
As Luke was hiding his face behind his hands, Noah took one step closer to him, until he eventually found himself sitting down next to him. Intellectually, he knew this was the best he could have asked for. Luke had apologized, and that was that. He could walk away now, continue with his life as he’d known it. Not the best life, but one he had under control.   
  
He didn’t walk away.  
  
“Weren’t you talking about rebelling as a prince and running away?” Noah now asked.   
  
At least that surprised Luke enough to finally look up. “Sorry? I mean, yes, but – why?”  
  
“I could do that. Rebel, run away.” He smiled at himself. “You know I can.”  
  
Luke caught his gaze now and looked at him with his big, brown eyes, currently expressing confusion. “What are you getting at?”  
  
“We could work together, split the reward.” He surprised himself as he suggested it. This wasn’t what Noah Mayer would do – he stuck to the rules, period. This was lying to the highest authority, and they’d be very, very lucky to get away with it in the long term. He was still suggesting it. Luke may be looking for a way out, but so was he.   
  
“I – I can’t believe you’re saying that,” Luke eventually said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but I wasn’t expecting…”  
  
“Neither was I, but hey.” He shrugged. He wasn’t going to take this back. Maybe it’d be the worst decision he’d made in his life, but it was his.  
  
Besides, it meant he got to spend more time with Luke. That was a condition he could live with, happily.  
  


* * *

   
For Luke, life almost seemed too good to be true. Damian was more than happy to open the door to him as soon as Noah had appeared behind him and told him he’d knowingly go along with the plan.   
  
Noah was going along with it – that was the biggest surprise of all. He’d honestly meant it when he’d said he didn’t want any of this anymore. He’d told Damian he’d find a job, he’d earn his own money even without any experience at any kind of work whatsoever, he’d study on his own if he had to. His own conscience was speaking up, but more importantly, he didn’t want to do this to Noah. Amazing Noah, who was as much as a best friend he could have hoped for, and yet ‘best friend’ didn’t cover Luke’s feelings for him.   
  
He knew better than to bring that up. After all, just being able to call Noah his friend was more than he could have expected. There was no way he was going to risk losing that.  
  
  
Their time together had become even better than it had been before, simply because Luke didn’t have to use all kinds of excuses anymore. Noah had been looking things up for himself, too, and he didn’t seem to mind rehearsing to see if he could be convincing enough to pass at the prince for a couple of days. Luke thought he did an amazing job, but really, he might be more than a little biased concerning Noah’s princeliness.  
  
  
They had two more weeks to be fully ready. That would give Noah another two weeks until the missing prince’s birthday, by which time he should be out of there. They didn’t want to go as far as having Noah going through all the official ceremonies.

Two weeks proved to be quite enough, even if they didn’t want it to be. Going through with the plan meant after all that they had to flee before truth came out. It was another reason for Luke to keep silent about how he felt. It didn’t matter: they’d part ways soon enough.   
  
He really loathed that.  
  
  
When the day had arrived, Damian made clear he wanted Luke to accompany Noah only until the moment he was to be presented, something Luke told him he’d remember, if only so he could willingly ignore it.  
  
Damian left the both of them at the palace gates after a long trip to get there, and announced he’d be back to pick up Luke in some hours. He claimed he had something else to do in the mean time, but Luke had the suspicion he really just wanted to get out of sight.  
  
Their presence was announced, but they had to wait for a while before someone official met up with them and heard them out. It would then be decided if they could indeed appear before the queen, as they weren’t the only ones trying to claim the reward.  
  
Luke was a little scared by that message. It was very naïve, but he’d hoped for things to be a lot easier, to just walk in and convince people long enough to have time to run away.   
  
Noah took it all pretty calmly, though he was still fidgeting and looking around him uneasily, as if he didn’t know where to look. “Ehm. Luke.”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I have no idea how much we’ll see of each other after all this,” Noah said, a bit hesitantly. “I, eh, I just want you to know I really enjoyed our time together. Y’know, in despite of what happened before.”  
  
“Really?” He hoped he didn’t sound too surprised. “I mean, I’m glad, I enjoyed it too. Really.”  
  
“Oh.” Noah sounded quite surprised himself, too. “That’s… good. Great.” He smiled tentatively. “Okay.”  
  
It was the first time Luke was truly completely nervous in Noah’s proximity. So far, he’d relied on his own talking to get him out of the awkwardness, but now, he felt they were both waiting for something. That ‘something’ could be words, but they wouldn’t be words without meaning. Luke felt he’d either have to act now, or be honest with Noah, and not doing anything only made him more nervous.  
  
Before he could decide on what would be best, their silence was interrupted. “The representative of the queen is ready to see you,” said a voice behind them. Luke looked up to what was probably one of the servants of the palace, judging by his clothes. His expression was unreadable. “If you could follow me, please?”  
  
  
“I have been told you have news about the lost prince.” The representative didn’t even wait for the door to be properly closed behind Luke and Noah. “I do hope you are aware of the punishments if this news proves to be false. The queen has had enough cases resulting into nothing but scams and liars.”  
  
That didn’t sound like he’d have a lot of patience with them.   
  
It was the moment Luke made his decision. “I don’t know about scams or liars,” he spoke up. “All I know is that I have reasons to believe I may be that prince, too many to ignore at this point.” His brain was already piecing together the story, carefully phrasing his words to cover for them. “My friend here was kind enough to accompany me here.”  
  
“ _Luke_!” Noah said in a strangled voice, sounding somewhere in between horrified and worried.   
  
Luke quickly put his hand on Noah’s, ignoring the way his heart jumped at such a simple gesture for now. If he started concentrating on that, this would lead to completely different things. “It’s okay, Noah, I can speak for myself,” he said, hoping Noah would get the hint. He then directed himself to the representative. “I don’t know about the procedures, so please tell me what happens next.”  
  
“You’ll have to go through extensive questioning,” was the answer. “That will be all for now. Privately, of course.”  
  
“Okay.” He could do that, at least long enough to give Noah time to get away. He couldn’t go through with this and let Noah take all the blame as soon as it went wrong. There was no doubt it  _would_  go wrong at this point, the only question being when.   
  
“You can follow me into the next room when you’re ready, then.” With those words, the representative left, leaving Luke and Noah alone once again.

* * *

  
Noah barely had the patience to wait until the door had closed to demand an explanation. “What are you doing?” he all but yelled. “This wasn’t the plan!”  
  
“The plan was stupid,” Luke said, “and I should never have gotten you involved. Listen, I’ll just try and talk my way out of it. If they actually buy it, you should take the reward and go away as soon as you can, okay? If they don’t, well, run anyway, and I’m sorry you didn’t get the money to help you.” He smiled apologetically.   
  
“This isn’t about the money! Luke, I was fine with doing this for you, your dreams.” He was blurting out things he probably shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help it, not when Luke was prepared to put everything he’d been so eager to achieve on the line just to get Noah out of this.   
  
“There are more important things than some guy wanting to study.” The look in his eyes became almost tender when he looked at Noah. “But thank you, Noah. That means a lot to me.”  
  
Luke’s softened voice, the look in his eyes made Noah forget his surroundings. For a moment, it didn’t matter that they were in a less than comfortable situation, that they might not see each other again afterwards.   
  
They were still standing next to each other; it required little effort to take Luke by the arms, pull him in just a little closer.   
  
“Noah.” It didn’t sound like he was protesting.  
  
Noah forgot all his worries and kissed Luke right there and then. It was soft and quick and chaste, but it was still a kiss. He could still deny it, say it was a joke, or just an impulse driven by the prospect of having to say goodbye soon. He didn’t want to deny it.  
  
Luke kissed him back when he leaned in a second time, and that was all that mattered then.  
  
  
Maybe a few hours passed before Luke finally resurfaced from what Noah silently called the interrogation room, wearing a very confused expression.  
  
“Everything okay?”   
  
“Yeah. It’s just…” He shook his head. “It’s weird. I actually told the truth, y’know? Well, you wouldn’t know of course, sorry about that. It’s just, they asked me all these things about my past, about my situation now, so I just told them I live with Damian and don’t know my parents. All that studying we’ve been doing hasn’t been very useful, they didn’t even ask for my birthday. And then they just studied my face, as if that should be enough. I don’t actually think they’re arresting me yet.”  
  
“That’s a good thing, right?”  
  
“Yes, but… strange.” He sighed. “They’re talking to the queen herself now, I don’t know what to make of it.” After a short silence, he turned to face Noah. “So, are we going to talk about it or what?”  
  
“What… Oh.” Of course. “Yes, I’m sorry about that, I shouldn’t have…”  
  
“Regardless of shouldn’t and wouldn’t and what not, did you mean it?”   
  
Before Noah could reply, the door was opened again, by the same representative as before. “The queen requests your presence, Mr. Grimaldi.”  
  
Luke gave Noah a panicked look, but he didn’t say anything – maybe he just couldn’t. “Am I…”  
  
“It won’t take long,” the representative said, though Noah had the suspicion that wasn’t what Luke had wanted to ask.   
  
“Fine.” They didn’t get a moment alone this time, which may be just as well. Instead, Luke gave him one more look with those big brown eyes before he followed the representative. 

* * *

  
The guilt pounded in his head with every step he took to the queen’s residence. This was bad. Maybe the queen wouldn’t recognize her grandson after so many years and simply believe him. That didn’t change the fact he was still pretending to be her family she’d lost, in a time when she already was alone. Maybe, just maybe, he could get away with it, but he wasn’t sure if his conscience could.  
  
It was too late at that point – after a knock on the door, a stern ‘enter’ came from the room, and Luke was allowed in.   
  
He had no idea about the curtseys, so he made some kind of bow before looking up to face the queen, who was in an armchair in the corner of her room. “Your highness.”  
  
“Sit down, boy,” she told him, but not in a particularly harsh way. “Sit down.”  
  
Luke did as he was told and took the chair opposite of her, waiting for the queen to start talking. She didn’t for a while – she studied his face as the representative had done, and she seemed to like what she saw.

“Ah, yes,” she eventually said. “I see it. Luciano… No, wait, Luke, wasn’t it?”  
  
Luke looked up in surprise. As far as he’d known, he’d just been ‘Luke’. ‘Luciano’ was a name Damian had called him once or twice, by mistake due to Damian’s foreign roots, he’d figured. At least Damian had always been quick to correct himself. “Eh. Yes, it’s Luke,” he said, not knowing what else to say and already doubting if he should keep referring to her as ‘madam’ or maybe ‘your highness’.   
  
“You have both your parents in you.”  
  
She said it matter-of-factly, without a grain of doubt, and Luke couldn’t do this anymore. “Wait, no,” he started to protest. “I mean, I might not be – I wasn’t all that sure, actually, and…” Was this the moment to start telling the truth or could he still talk his way out of this?   
  
“Maybe you weren’t, but I’d say a mother would recognize her daughter’s child when it’s in front of her.” She had already decided this, it was obvious. “Say, wasn’t it your uncle Damian who raised you?” She almost spat out ‘uncle’, and her voice was menacing at ‘Damian’.   
  
“Yes, but…”  
  
“Well, let’s clarify things once and for all, then. First things first.” She stretched out her hand to him. “The name’s Lucinda.”  
  


* * *

  
The first couple of weeks after that were so confusing that neither of them really had the time to think about their interrupted conversation.   
  
Luke had to come to terms with a lot of sudden revelations about himself. After testing, it had become official that Luke was indeed the missing grandson, the result of an affair between Damian and his mother Lily before her marriage. Damian had left, and Luke – actually Luciano – had been left to be raised by Lily and her husband Holden.   
It had been Damian all along who had taken Luke away, most likely out of jealousy. They hadn’t been able to ask him, since he hadn’t returned to the palace to pick him up and probably never would. Apparently, he’d cared more about getting the money and getting Lily back; as neither of that would happen any time soon, he’d fled. The house was empty.  
  
All in all, it left Luke with a mother who was alive, though not in a condition to see him any time soon without getting complications from the shock; a stepfather, and a biological father who’d been telling him his whole life he was his uncle. Noah could only imagine how difficult that must be to take in, let alone also dealing with his new status.  
  
Luke didn’t seem all that troubled when they were together, though. Maybe he was just dealing with everything in his own way, but he seemed genuinely happy with Noah. It reminded him all the more either of them should really start talking.   
  
“Grandmother says my mother has gotten the news by now,” Luke said, as they were hanging out in his new rooms one day. “She took it rather well, so it might actually be possible to visit her soon. Her and my stepfather, really. It’s still strange.”  
  
Noah had to agree. “And you’re royalty now,” he added. “With your friend still a poor guy you picked off the streets. That’s quite a class gap.” He knew trying to keep things light was better for now. They’d had some heavy-handed conversations in the beginning, and Luke could use some distraction.  
  
“Sounds like a plot for a dramatic film,” Luke said with a grin, “except you’re not really all that poor anymore, so I’m expecting that plot in the cinemas in a year or two, with your name in the credits.”  
  
Noah had indeed taken the reward money, by Luke’s insistence. He had been the one to return the lost prince, after all, even if not quite as expected. It was surely a help, but he wasn’t exactly convinced he had the talent to live his dreams. “Yeah, sure.”  
  
“Yes, I’m sure.” He seemed to ponder his next words before he spoke up again. “Hey, Noah?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I was just thinking, you still haven’t answered my question.”  
  
He didn’t have to clarify this time; so far for light topics. “Right.”

“It’s okay,” Luke quickly said, “I mean, I’m glad we’re still friends. I just – it wasn’t a nice joke, y’know?”  
  
“Maybe that’s because I wasn’t joking.” It took a lot of nerve for Noah to admit that much after the nerve it had taken to actually kiss him. That had happened because they’d thought that was the last time they’d see each other. Even if it would have broken their friendship, it wouldn’t have mattered that much – until of course, things took a completely different course.  
  
Noah?” Luke seemed quite hopeful, which was probably good, right?  
  
“I’m not very good at this,” he admitted. “Talking in general, I mean, but about this, too.”  
  
“I think I talk enough for the both of us,” Luke said with a smile, though there was some truth in his words. “So, not a joke, then.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Good.” Luke was the one who leaned in this time, kissing Noah not quite as quick and chaste as their first kiss had been.   
  
They could figure this out. Both their lives had changed tremendously over the past couple of weeks, and they might actually have to do some talking next to the kissing. That being said, they had each other. Luke didn’t have to go through this alone, and Noah wouldn’t be alone in his new life, either. And to be honest, that was much more of a reward than any amount of money could ever be.


End file.
